American Fork Canyon – Professor on the Run

Skiing?!

February 22, 2017 professorontherun

I grew up snowboarding in NW Washington and had never skied. However, lots of my trailrunning friends have been posting pictures of backcountry ski-touring. I couldn’t let them have all the fun so I hunted on the used classifieds and put together a pretty good set-up. Some Surface Sherpa skis with dynafit speed turn tech bindings, some La Sportiva sparkle tech boots, and some G3 skins.

So, before I knew it, I was skinning up Sq Peak road and then realizing I didn’t know how to ski down. Thankfully the road isn’t too steep, so my rudimentary pizza wedge worked fine. The boots KILLED though.

After getting the boots adjusted I return to the same road, went up higher and felt great. The new snow, however, made the way back down very slow – lots of pushing and having to stay in my tracks. So, not much practice getting turns on the downhill.

3rd attempt I skinned up from the Lindon equestrian parking lot up to make-out point just north of Dry Canyon. The way up was great. Downhill was a disaster. I picked a broad treeless open slope because it would give me the space to do long wide turns. There was a lot of deep snow, which made turning hard and who would have guessed that not know how to ski at all would make going down difficult. It was embarrassing.

4 attempt I went with a friend from Tibble Fork Resevoir in AF Canyon up to Silver Lake Flat via the road and trail, and then took the road down. It was great. Steep enough on the way down that I didn’t have to push a lot but not too steep. I got some turns in and started to figure out the mechanics of it.

Finally, on an afternoon after work I ponied up some dollars and got an evening lift ticket at Sundance. It was great! After a few runs I figured out how to distirbute my weight from one foot to the other, carve back and forth, slow down, dodge trees, etc. There was a good 18 inches of fresh snow, which didn’t make for the best learning conditions, but it went very well. By the end of the day I could swish down greens and blues without much trouble. Huzzah!

Bagging Box Elder Peak

June 22, 2015 professorontherun

Exactly 1 year ago today (coincidence, not planned) I explored the Box Elder Trail with a friend and have been dying to get back. I put the peak on my list of summit goals for the year, and this morning I finally bagged it. I posted on some FB groups and an impressive roster of local runners joined. 15 in total (which is the group size limit) + 2 others who came a bit later and did the loop in the opposite direction (and happened to hit the summit right when we did. It was gorgeous. It was steep. The bottom of my right foot and top of my left foot have still been a bit tender from the Bryce 50k and subsequent week of hiking around Zion National Park…so I’m going to be really sore. We did it in just under 5 hours. I was pulling up the rear with a couple other for the climb up and the main group could have gone much faster. On the descent, I kept up with the main group. We went up the Box Elder Trail Nr. 044, wrapped it around the west side of the saddle between Box Elder Peak and South Box Elder Peak, climbed up said saddle, and then summitted via the south ridge. Yowzers. Miles 1-2 climb about 2,000 ft, then miles 3-4 “only” climb another 1,000 ft. By mile 6, as you get on the south shoulder and stare up the climb to the peak (see pictures below) you have climbed about 3,300 ft. Then, the 1/2 mile climb to the summit pops on another ~1,000 ft. Yowzers, that was tough. That 1/2 mile segment of “trail” averages a 36% grade. The peak, is at about 11,100 ft. I really struggled on the last climb. My legs felt ok, but my lungs and heart were struggling with the altitude. This was the highest I have ever been. I was a bit dizzy, heart pounding out of my chest, gasping for air. But, I made it. We took the north saddle down to the Deer Creek-Dry Creek Trail and followed that back down to the Granite Flats campground. I had some blisters forming on the descent and by the end my legs felt like jello. Small little climbs on the north saddle killed me. By the last mile, I was running sloppy – catching my toe, rolling my ankles, etc… Its a miracle I didn’t fall.

At appx mile 3, after traversing over the gully where Taylor and I stoped last year. These meadows were just gorgeous. Wildflowers and mint in the air.

On the west side of the south saddle – looking down at American Fork Canyon and Mt. Timpanogos.

Mile 5.7ish. Working our way up the west face to the south saddle, not even to the real climb yet.

Staring up the south ridge ascent. So steep.

Box Elder Peak — The crew (minus Greg, + the 2 who did the loop in the opposite direction) at the summit. Me, apparently unable to look straight at the camera. Too cool for school

IMG_4600a — Looking north from the summit – Lone Peak, Pfeifferhorn, White Baldy, Twin Peaks, Sugarloaf on the horizon.

The group flying down the north ridge towards the saddle to intersect with the Deer Creek-Dry Creek trail.

Looking back up at the peak from the meadow where the Box Elder Trail and Deer Creek-Dry Creek intersect – down the north saddle.

Playing Tour Guide at Box Elder

June 20, 2014 professorontherun

This week a good friend and colleague – a fellow historian – was in town for a conference and wanted me to take him and his two dogs somewhere beautiful for a trail run. Since we were down in Utah County for the conference, I chose the Box Elder Trail towards the like named Peak. This was my first time up American Fork Canyon and will not be my last. Wow.

We started at the Granite Flat Campground and headed up trail 044. We climbed about 2,500 ft up 2.5+ miles of trail, stopping often to take pictures, catch our breath and talk history. My friend currently lives in Melbourne, Australia…at sea level. So, our hike from 6,500 to just over 9,000 ft. must have been killing his lungs. His dogs didn’t seem to mind though. We didn’t make the final 2,000 ft climb to the peak, choosing instead to sit and relax on a mint and wildflower covered hill on the north side of a canyon that would have otherwise led us up to the south saddle between the south and main Box Elder Peak.

It was a gorgeous day. Thanks to Taylor for sharing it with me!

Now, I have to schedule some time to go back and conquer that thing…